Caution: going to work may still be dangerous to your health

2000

OSHA finalizes rules intended to reduce ergonomic injuries. Representatives from the AFL-CIO call the standards “the most significant action that OSHA has ever taken to protect workers,” because, as it writes, “Musculoskeletal disorders are the biggest source of workplace injuries in this country.”  Proponents of the regulations say that the rules will prevent 460,000 injuries a year and will save the country the costs associated with injuries such as medical bills, lost work time, the training of replacement workers, and worker compensation costs. OSHA’s director even says that the new rules should save American corporations $9 billion a year. Business groups, however, say that these rules will be the largest and most costly regulations ever issued for the workplace and that they are unnecessary because the number of ergonomic injuries have declined in recent years.

Between the time when Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole, in reaction to a study indicating that ergonomic injuries were the most rapidly growing category of workplace illness, committed OSHA to addressing the problem in 1991 to 2000, OSHA’s ergonomic rules have run the gauntlet of challenges: they have been challenged in court, heavily attacked by industry groups, and blocked by congressional action from research or finalization. Business groups say that they will continue to oppose the standards through court or congressional action.

As early as 2004, courts awarded workers compensation for illness caused by diacetyl, a hazardous chemical that can cause of serious lung disease. But OSHA has yet to finalize standards on exposure levels in manufacturing plants that use the chemical, including those that use the chemical to create artificial flavoring that is used in popcorn.

2001:

Congress overrides what would otherwise have been a final OSHA rule setting out ergonomic standards. This is the first use of the Congressional Review Act, a law passed in 1996 as part of SBREFA, which gives congress the power to veto OSHA regulations. A White House Statement says that it is committed to worker health but that “there is a real concern about the overly burdensome current rules because of the negative impact they would have on jobs and economic growth.” Business groups praise the decision. “If it is not stopped, the ergonomics rule will create a cottage industry for lawyers and consultants seeking millions in fees and forcing businesses to postpone productive investments that benefit workers,” says Randel Johnson, the Chamber of Commerce vice president for labor policy.

Democrats argue that overturning the standard would leave workers without protection from repetitive motion injuries and that the costs of the regulations would have been balanced by savings in reduced injury-related costs. Labor groups are extremely disappointed because they cannot appeal the decision. “There’s nothing you can go to court on,” says Margaret Seminario, the AFL-CIO’s safety and health director. “This is an act of Congress. Period. End of story.”[22]

2004

Sen. Kennedy announces support for legislation strengthening criminal sanctions against employers who willfully violate standards. OSHA declines to comment on whether or not it supports the increased penalties. New York Times analyzes two decades of safety inspection data to determine that over the time span, 2,197 workers died as a result of willful safety violations by their employers, but that these employers collectively served less than 30 years in jail and paid a total of $106 million in civil fines. Sen. Jon S. Corzine (D-N.J.) says the weak criminal sanctions represent “an incredible failure to protect American workers.”

February 2006

Article in Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source chronicles the rule-making process for a now-abandoned standard on the carcinogen known as hexavelent chromium. Article argues that chemical industry derailed the finalization of the standard by withholding relevant information that demonstrated the correlation between chromium and increased risk of cancer until after OSHA’s rule-making process had come to a close.

2006

Sen. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee, again introduces legislation that would weaken OSHA’s authority and make regulatory programs more voluntary in nature. A major component of the bill is the one permitting employers to hire third-party auditors to inspect their workplaces in exchange for two years of exemption from OSHA penalties for violations. However, after 12 miners are killed in a West Virginia mine disaster linked to safety violations, the bill quickly dies.[23]